COMING UP FOR PADRES
PADRES GET TO PLAY ROX, BUT L.A. LOOMS

Getting to start the season against the low-expectation New York Mets, albeit on the road, should have been filed under good news. A blowout loss on Opening Day, however, made it really bad news.

Ostensibly, it’s good news that after the Padres leave New York on Thursday, they play the first three of six games against the Colorado Rockies in the first half of this month. The Padres won 10 of 18 games with the Rocks last year.

While the Padres would not appear to have gotten better since 2012, the same is true of pitching-starved Colorado. Except the Rockies do have All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who missed most of last season, back in their lineup. He already has two home runs

Back to the bad news, of course. After a weekend series at Coors Field, the Padres open their first homestand of 2013 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who turn around and host the Padres on April 15-17. It was with six losses in seven games against L.A. that the Padres got off to such a wretched start in 2012, never to recover.